Our Eyewitness accounts of Election Chaos in Maricopa County Report got a lot of attention. As a result, reports of disenfranchisement continue to pour in from Maricopa County election workers, poll observers, and some voters. We will continue to publish these stories because the corporate media won’t cover the widespread and systemic failures on election day in Maricopa County.
One election worker who served as a judge at the Queens Creek Library said:
- “When they went to tabulate, one tabulator would not tabulate at all, the second was sporadically taking the ballots but appeared less often than not.”
- “We began to refer voters to the neighboring site Communiversity which seemed to have no issues with their tabulator. The inspector got on the hotline and she plus the tech on site were on the phone for at least 45 minutes before reaching anyone. They were told that a tech would come out and a new tabulator, but it would take a while. If I recall correctly the tech and tabulator arrived sometime around 11:00 am.”
- “The troubleshooter did come and tried what he could to fix them. The one that wasn’t working he ended up cleaning. Mind you it did not tabulate one ballot, but it was not clean. The one that was somewhat working continued to tabulate about every 5th ballot. People were told they could spoil their ballot and go to the Communiversity to vote or put their ballot in Drawer 3. People did both of those things, and some stayed around for quite a while hoping the tabulator would get fixed.”
- “After the tech came around 11:00, the tabulators were working for the most part. I had asked our troubleshooter what he thought it could be and he told me that they program them for each site before they leave the warehouse. It could have been a programming issue or hardware issue.”
- “We had some issues from time to time with the printers, but it was probably due to the volume we had. We processed around 2500 ballots on Election Day. We had a tech on site that had set up the printers. He said they were connected to the internet in order to print the blots. 65 ballots ended up in drawer 3. We did set aside and even though in my training we were told to try running those through the tabulator my inspector did not.”
Another poll observer at the Eldorado Park Community Center in Scottsdale from 6am to 1pm noted:
- “The day started off with a high volume of voters and drop-offs without tabulator issues.
Lines that day started at 30 minutes, then moved to 45 minutes and by Noon wait times were well over an hour to an hour and half.” - “Starting at 11:30 we started experiencing issues with the tabulators not accepting voters ballots.
These voters were instructed to re-enter their ballots 4 different ways in the original tabulator, then if all those failed to do the same thing in the second tabulator, then if failed again go back to the first tabulator and try again. If all 12 attempts failed, they were given a choice of spoiling their ballot, have another printed, fill out their ballot again and try submitting in the tabulators again – a 30 + minutes process on top of waiting in line for an hour + or placing their ballot in Drawer #3.” - “By the time I left at 1:00pm, the Pole Inspector was instructing her team to move any voter who’s ballot failed after the second attempt – 24 tabulator attempts to a mandatory provisional vote.
Between 11:30 and Noon, approximately 10% of ballots were failing. Between Noon and 12:30 approximately 20% of ballots were failing, between 12:30 and 1:00 4 of every 7 ballots were failing. I will never forget the look on these effected voters faces, they were in disbelief that our system of voting was failing them in mass on the most important election day of the 2022 cycle. In the 42 years I have been voting – 99% in person, I have never experienced such chaos, confusion and voter suppression.”
Another poll observer at the vote center located at worship & word church in Peoria, Arizona recalled the “very chaotic scene” from their 6pm to 9pm shift:
- “When I arrived at 5:56 PM the area was very congested. Vehicles were circling trying to find parking. I finally parked two blocks away on an unlit residential street. I would estimate that 100-125 voters were in the line around the building. I later estimated the wait in line to be 1-1.5 hours. The mood of the people in line was one of negative exhaustion. Several had children, were elderly, and many were wearing work clothes.”
- “At 6:10 PM I then sat at the assigned Observer seats directly behind the tabulators. I immediately saw the tabulators were malfunctioning and the Inspector said it was due to the printers. A County Tech was sitting next to the printers. I asked the Tech if the printers were working and he said they were fixed at noon. I asked if they were fixed at noon why are the tabulators still not working. He was unresponsive.”
- “In retrospect, I think about 3 out of 5 ballots could not be scanned after 8-10 attempts on each tabulator. The voter was then informed that they could deposit in Door 3 and it would be counted “downtown”, or they could start over by spoiling the ballot and re-voting, or use the handicap touch screen machine (line of 10-15 voters). I would estimate 50% opted for Door 3.”
- “At 7:00 PM the Marshall called it and stood in the line outside on the far side of the building with 100 + voters. 4-5 voters arrived immediately thereafter and were very upset. One voter came to the side door and demanded to speak to a “supervisor” and was shouting that he was being disenfranchised and that he has voted for 20 years without a problem but he couldn’t find a parking spot and went to the wrong side of the building. The Inspector called the police on this voter and the officers spoke to him. Awhile later the upset voter was still at the back door and the Inspector called the police again and the officers had him leave and two others behind the Marshall in line. I went outside two times for 3-5 minutes each time and observed the line. I saw 1-3 voters leave each time I was out there stating they “…. had to get their kids home…” or “….forget it…”.
- “I think it was 9:20 PM as the last voter exited. The poll workers began to disassemble the booths etc. The two tabulator counted ballot boxes were emptied on to the floor and workers began organizing the ballots into stacks and placing them within the black canvas ballot bag. This is the same bag that already had the overflow Door 3 uncounted ballots in it. Upon reflection I never saw the Door 3 uncounted ballots separately retrieved from their separate chamber and segregated. My best recollection is that they were on the floor with the tabulator counted ballots and all put into the bag (or left in the separate chamber?).”
- “The Inspector and a poll worker were reading the manual and following each step for shutting down the tabulators. I asked the Inspector for the count of Check-ins. She said they don’t have that number. I asked the Inspector several times for the Total Ballots Cast and she was unresponsive and at the end she said it was too late as it was packed. I could not see if the tabulators were zeroed out.”
- “There were two large plastic bins of Early ballots secured with twist ties, the black canvas bag of counted tabulator and Door 3 uncounted ballots, and other paraphernalia including the tabulator USBs, etc.”
One voter explained their experience as follows:
- My husband, daughter and I voted on election day at Love of Christ Lutheran on Power Rd. 9:30 am. We waited in line, got our ballots. The ink on the ballots was a light brown, not black. We thought that was very odd. My husband’s ballot was rejected and the poll worker tried to get him to put it in the box 3 which he would not do. He went through spoiled his ballot, got a new one, filled it out. This time it was accepted. An extra 45 plus minutes. We are retired and could spend the extra time. What about all of the people who tried to vote before work or on their lunch break?
The massive disenfranchisement of voters in Maricopa County on Election Day is unconscionable. When will elected officials in Maricopa County take action? What will they do to make things right?
